It is well known in the prior art to provide a vehicle body compartment panel, such as a rear deck lid, which is hingedly mounted and spring loaded for movement to an open position. A latch assembly is mounted on the compartment panel and has a latch bolt which is spring biased to an unlatched position. When the deck lid is slammed to a closed position, the latch bolt latches with a striker mounted on the vehicle body to latch the panel in a closed position. The latch assembly traditionally includes a detent lever which holds the latch bolt in the latch position, and a key cylinder for releasing the detent lever from the latch bolt so that the latch bolt is spring biased to the unlatched position releasing the panel for movement to its open position.
It is also well known in the prior art to provide a motorized pull down mechanism for pulling the panel to the fully closed position, thereby eliminating the need for the user to slam the panel. The pull down mechanism traditionally includes a housing mounted on the vehicle body and having the striker mounted thereon by a motorized vertically movable drive unit for movement between an extended position and a retracted position. When the striker is extended, closing movement of the panel causes the latch bolt to engage the striker so that the panel and the striker are latched together. This engagement closes a switch and energizes the motorized drive unit to retract the striker and thereby pull the panel to the fully closed position. When the panel is returned to the fully open position by operating the key, or by a remote electrical operation from inside the passenger compartment, the motorized drive unit reverses and the striker is moved from the retracted position to the extended position in readiness for subsequent engagement by the latch bolt upon closing movement of the panel.
The present invention provides a new and improved mechanism for moving the body mounted striker vertically between the retracted and extended positions and isolating the motorized drive unit from forces imposed on the striker during slamming of the compartment panel and/or an attempt to pry the compartment panel open.